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Shop with a Purpose – When you purchase scrip gift cards for stores, restaurants and gas stations, a percentage goes directly to Local Compassion to help families in our church facing financial crisis.

Growing up, Jesse was taught by his parents to respect the local Police Officers they’d pass by on the street. That respect grew to admiration as TV shows like SWAT and Adam 12 enhanced his perception of the officers protecting his city. “That’s what I wanted,” Jesse explained, “and that’s what the majority of cops want as they enter the force: to do good, to be the heros we grew up thinking so highly of.”

“I got hit in the head on the job site, started having seizures and such. That’s when I got put on medicine and no one wanted to take a chance on me.” Wesley is a 52 year old man who migrated from Louisiana to California in 2013 after receiving no help after a work injury. When Eastside’s Local Compassion crew met with him at his newly acquired apartment, he began to unveil his story.

May is National Foster Care Month, a time set aside originally in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan to offer appreciation to foster parents. Since being initiated, the National Foster Care Coalition has worked to expand the goals of this month to focus on awareness of the issues at hand and to encourage willing citizens to get involved with the foster system.

For some of us, only one medical emergency, or one pay cut, or one traffic citation separates us from experiencing homelessness. Oftentimes as a society, we assume that the folks we see on on the streets of our neighborhoods have a story of how they got there that is far from relatable, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Three times a week, one of Eastside’s community partners reaches out to our Local Compassion department with news of an individual or family’s pressing need. Erica Sperrazzo, Director of Local Compassion at Eastside Christian Church, then gets to work, seeking out the ways and means necessary in order to assist the person(s) in dire straights.

On a Tuesday morning this past February, two policemen responded to a typical traffic accident call in Whittier, California; but when they appeared on the scene they were faced with much more than that. A man known to have gang affiliation had stolen the vehicle responsible for the crash that morning and opened fire on the officers as they approached him at the site of the collision. What was supposed to be standard procedure, turned into a day filled with emotion as the gunman took the life of one of the officers and injured the other.

Over the past few weeks leading up to Eastside’s annual Serve Day, a drive for diapers and wipes has been commencing. The recipients will be none other than moms in our community that are hard pressed in purchasing these everyday necessities to keep their little ones happy and comfortable.

“Our goal is for the kids to be kids, to provide a place where they can have fun and enable them to form real relationships with people in the community.” Lofty goal? Nellie Hernandez of Orange County’s Social Services department doesn’t think so.